March 26...At Lunchtime...

It was Monday and it was just like any other day. Rodrigo immediately burst into the lunchroom and went to sit at the same table where he and his friends would always go to. He was starving. He woke up late that morning and only managed to eat a fruit for breakfast, lest he missed the bus. Wasting no time, he sat down, opened his lunch bag, got out his food and began to eat.

"Whoa, someone's starving today." Sid commented when he saw at how Rodrigo was just devouring his lunch.

Rodrigo said nothing and just gave Sid a thumbs up. He couldn't respond since he had just stuffed his mouth full of food. After almost a minute of chewing, Rodrigo finally managed to swallow his food to respond.

"Ya, I'm starving. I only ate a fruit for breakfast this morning, so my stomach has been growling for almost half the time of my last class."

"Just make sure you chew before you swallow." Gerald commented, noticing Rodrigo's ravenous appetite.

Again, Rodrigo said nothing and merely gave Gerald a thumbs up.

While Rodrigo was busy eating away, Gerald then turned his attention to Phoebe, whom he was about to ask her a question before Rodrigo came.

"So, how was your date last night with Helga, Pheebs?" Gerald asked.

"It was really rather nice." Phoebe excitedly began to tell her story. "Although Helga has never been a person to be surprised, I am proud to say that I am one of the few that succeeded in that aspect without upsetting her."

Although Rodrigo was busy eating his lunch, he nevertheless listened into Gerald's and Phoebe's conversation, curious to hear just what did Phoebe do for Helga to surprise her.

Helga didn't mention going out with Phoebe when I spoke to her last night. He thought.

"Well, that did you do for her?" her boyfriend asked.

"Well firstly, I got her this really nice poetry book that contained a lot of her favourite authors and poets. Then, believe it or not, we went shopping."

"You...took Helga out...shopping?" Gerald re-confirmed while giving her an unbelievable, if not skeptical look.

Phoebe however, just giggled.

"I know, it sounds crazy but yes, we went shopping. We didn't really buy a lot. Helga bought a shirt, a nice sweater and new pants. I bought a nice fancy coat to wear for special occasions. We just spend most of the time just talking and eating lunch there. It was rather nice. We haven't had much time in hanging out with each other, so we took yesterday as a great opportunity to catch up."

"Well that's nice. I hope she liked her surprise." Said Gerald.

"Oh she did. She was thrilled." Phoebe responded with a smile.

"So Rodrigo, what did you do for Helga last weekend?" Gerald then asked.

Rodrigo lifted his head and gave Gerald a confused look.

"Nothing. Was I suppose to do something for her?"

"Uh, ya duh. Don't tell me you forgot." Gerald said with a bit a of a worried look.

"Forget what? What happened last weekend? And why did you surprise her, Phoebe?" Rodrigo asked, now looking even more confused than ever.

"Don't you know, Rodrigo?" Phoebe rhetorically asked him. "Yesterday was Helga's birthday."

The second he heard that word, 'birthday', Rodrigo swore he felt his heart stop beating.

"What?!" He yelled frantically. "It was her birthday yesterday?!"

Phoebe confusingly just nodded.

"Yes, it was. How did you forget?" She asked him.

"Forget? I never even knew when her birthday was?!" Rodrigo exclaimed, now borderline panicking. "Neither her, nor anyone ever told me and I never attempted to find out!"

Both Gerald and Phoebe just stared at him with wide eyes, baffled at how this piece of small, but crucial information was completely missed.

"Oh man!" Gerald exclaimed as he hit his head with the palm of his hand. "Sorry about that, Rodrigo. I don't know how we never told you."

"What are you doing to do, Rod?" Stinky asked.

"Simple. I'll just blame it all on everyone; let her take it out you guys." Rodrigo joked with a smirk.

"Funny, Rodrigo." Sid sarcastically remarked, as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Fine. I'll think of something." Rodrigo groaned as he plunged his head on the table.

"Any ideas yet?" Harold asked as he chewed his food.

"No." Said Rodrigo. "But I'll think of something." As he raised his head. "I don't know what, but it'll come to me. Right now, I just want to eat. I'm still starving."

Rodrigo then continued eating his lunch, but he was also deep in thought as to what he could possibly get for Helga.

I'd better think of something. He thought. Otherwise she will kill me. Hmm, I could just ask her what she would like to do or what she would like for her birthday. Ya, let me do that. I'll ask her during history class.

History class...

Rodrigo quickly made his way to their class and hoped Helga would already be there. He wasn't running, but he was walking very quickly. As he approached his class, he noticed a blonde girl entering the classroom. Relieved in knowing that it was Helga, he quickly made a dash for the door.

Rodrigo arrived at their classroom and saw Helga calmly about to her seat. Although he wasn't sure why, he suddenly felt a burst of energy coursing through his veins. He quickly walked in, went around their desk and very quickly, without Helga even noticing, sat down on his desk and exclaimed,

"Hey, what's up?!", which took Helga by complete surprise and made her jump.

"Jeez, where did you come from?!" She exclaimed with a still surprising tone in her voice. "You scared me!"

"Jumpy, are we?" Rodrigo teasingly asked.

"I am not jumpy!" Helga retorted back at him. "You just scared me is all."

"My bad, but I wanted to surprise you." He said.

"For what?" She asked him while giving him a bit of a frowning face.

"For your birthday, which apparently it was yesterday and neither you, nor anyone else, ever told me about. So, happy belated birthday, Helga."

"Ya sure, whatever, thanks." She said almost dismissively. She then just took our her notebook and get prepared to the class' lecture.

OOkkk. Not the response that I was expecting. He thought.

"Um, I think you missed the part where I said that you never told me when your birthday was." He said again.

"You never asked." She said.

"True, but it wouldn't have killed you to at least give me some notice." He said.

"Look, it's no big deal, Rodrigo. So what if I didn't tell you." She said.

Rodrigo was a bit surprised by her remark. He was expecting her to be either angry or upset with him for missing her birthday. Instead, he was presented with her usual cynicism, dismissing that fact that her own boyfriend completed missed her birthday.

"So, you're not mad?" He asked.

"Mad about what? That you missed my birthday? Like I said, it's no big deal. You didn't know about it and even if you did, it wouldn't have been a big deal."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there. What do you mean it wouldn't have been a big deal?" He asked, removing any remaining joking humour from the conversation and getting serious. "Helga, I missed your birthday. Yes, I didn't know about it, but aren't you the least bit upset that I never even said 'happy birthday' to you when we spoke last night?"

"Not really." She casually responded as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Really?!" Rodrigo exclaimed, looking completely flabbergasted.

Upon seeing how upset Rodrigo was getting that she wasn't at upset with him, she decided to humour him.

"Ok, so did you plan anything for my birthday?" She asked.

"Uhh, no. I only found out about it during lunch, so I had no time." He confessed.

"So then why are you upset that I am not upset with you?" She asked him.

"I'm not upset. I'm just surprised that you're not upset. I'm not sure how to react to your reaction. Maybe I should be thrilled that you're not upset because God knows what you would have done to me if you were upset. Or, is this some diabolical scheme to let my guard down and when at I'm my most vulnerable, you will strike?"

Helga just stared at him and gave him a sweet smile for his naivety.

"You're cute when you're so lost, you know that?" She said.

"Anyways, regardless, I feel bad about missing your birthday and I want to do something to celebrate it."

"You don't have to do that, Rodrigo." She said to him. "Like I said, it's not a big deal."

Rodrigo by this point was about to seriously protest. However, he checked himself from saying anything because he realized a possible reason why Helga was being cynical about all of this.

Could it be that she just doesn't want to have any expectations in this relationship for fear of being let down? He thought to himself.

It made sense. Many people whom she had expected to be there for her, were not. Her family, Arnold and even most of their friends had all let her down in some way or another. Yes, that is a bit biased, but it nevertheless served to only isolate herself even more from others, away from allowing anyone from ever trying to hurt her.

Although Rodrigo had a good hunch that this may be the reason, he didn't know for sure, but he wasn't willing to find out about it. His main focus was trying to do something for Helga's birthday.

"It's a big deal for me." He said to her. "It was your birthday yesterday and I missed it. I know you may not think that you being born is not a big deal, and in this universe it may not be, but it is to me."

That got Helga's attention and turned to look at him with curious eyes.

"You exist in my life and...I'm glad that you are here so I can share all of that," he pointed out the window, "with you. That's why I want to celebrate your birthday with you; to commemorate the day when someone as strong, smart and...beautiful as you, came to be."

Helga was a bit astounded for him to say that. No one since Arnold had ever spoken so thankfully about her.

"Um, well, thanks Rodrigo. That's really nice." She sheepishly said to him. "You uh, meant that?"

"Every word of it." He said as he extended his hand.

Helga then reached for it and grabbed his hand, only for Rodrigo to then gently and tenderly place a kiss on her hand, making Helga smile.

"So what do you say? Let us celebrate your birthday?" He asked with a smile.

"Fine. Let me know what you want to do." She said while still smiling, if not blushing a bit.

*cough*"Get a room."*cough* a student behind them suddenly muttered to them.

"What did you say?!" Helga instantly turned around and growled at the student, while giving him a deadly glare and showing him her fist.

"Hehehe, n-n-n-nothing. Y-Y-You guys make a cute couple. Carry on." The student nervously said and went back to 'writing' on his notebook.

Rodrigo just watched in awe on how Helga can be sweet and bashful one second, only to be able to inflict fear and intimidation among her peers in another second.

Ya, I'm happy she wasn't angry at me for missing her birthday. He concluded.

Friday...

It was now the end of school and Rodrigo quickly went to his locker to grab whatever he had to take home for the weekend. He also did not want to miss the bus. He had booked Friday night to take Helga out for her belated birthday and he was both excited and also nervous about it.

He had planned three different events. The first was dinner, which he made reservations for at one of the city's fanciest restaurants in downtown. Then they were to head to the botanical gardens. Although Helga was never a flower girl, there is an exhibit that showed rare and exotic flowers. The best part about that was that they were artistically arranged and placed around a big mound. It was suppose to be awe-inspiring, according to the reviews that he read online, hence why he wanted to take her there. After that, he was going to deliver his coup de grâce; a birthday present for Helga.

After grabbing everything from this locker, Rodrigo started making his way to the bus stop. Further down the hall, he heard a commotion. Rather curiously, upon inspecting it, he saw two kids berating each other, trying to incite one another into hitting the other first. One was a white teen and the other was a black teen.

"Come on, let's see if put your money where your mouth is!" The white teen angrily yelled as he also pushed the black teen.

"Don't touch me!" The black teen yelled back. "And I didn't say any of those things about your sister!"

"You liar!" The white teen yelled back. "I know you black guys always have an eye for white girls, but not my sister!" To which the white teen again pushed the black teen.

Their friends were not really helping the situation. They were inciting the two teens to fight each other and even began throwing swear words at each other. Although concerned as to why these two kids were at each other's throats, in the end, he opted to not intervene. He didn't know them and they were probably just being stupid. Besides, he had more important things to worry about tonight and so walked away.

Friday evening...

Rodrigo wasted no time in getting himself ready for his big date with Helga. He wanted to not only make an impression, but he also wanted her to have a good time. To do that, he wanted everything to be perfect. Right after coming home, Rodrigo took a shower, shaved and put on some formal attire. He put on some black dress pants and a purple shirt with a black tie. He also didn't want to be late for dinner. He had booked it for 6:30pm and given how it was still rush hour during that time, he wanted to leave early to ensure they would get there on time. He had booked all of their events down to the last second, so there was no room for any screw ups.

After doing some homework, he realized that it was almost 5pm, so he quickly got up, grabbed his coat and headed out.

Rodrigo had earlier asked his dad if he can borrow the car again, to which to his delight, he was given permission. It was faster getting around the city by car than by bus. Before getting into the car, he texted Helga, letting him know that he will be there soon. He was so into this date that he completely forgot to ask Helga if she was even ready. Luckily for him, she was.

When Rodrigo arrived at Helga's house, he texted her again to let her know that he had arrived. He didn't have to wait for long Helga to come out. When she came out, Rodrigo's jaw dropped. Although he had asked her to be a bit formal for tonight's event, what she was wearing was, not too formal, but just...wow. Helga wore a beautiful red dress that went down all the way to her feet. She wore medium black high heels for the occasion. She even abandoned her traditional two pigtails and let her hair go completely down, making her hardly recognizable, yet allowing radiant hair to shine. Although she wore little to no make-up, she did have black leather jacket to keep her warm, but to also demonstrate her typical, no nonsense attitude.

Looking beautifully, Rodrigo just started, becoming mesmerized as Helga climbed down the stoop and climbed into the car. Yet even then, Rodrigo said or did nothing and just continued to stare at him.

*snap* Helga snapped her fingers in order to get Rodrigo out of his trance.

"You uh, took a long mental picture there, Latino boy?" She asked him.

"Uh? Oh sorry Helga, you just soo...ravishingly beautiful tonight." He said as he leaned in to kiss her on the kiss.

"Thanks." She casually said. "Now, would you mind telling me where we're going? I can't stand surprises."

"Nope." Rodrigo said as he started the engine again and started driving. "Just humour me tonight. I promise you will not be disappointed tonight."

"Fine." She said as she got more comfortable.

Rodrigo then gave Helga a CD pouch.

"Here, pick a CD." He said.

Helga scanned through the pouch and then grabbed a CD that caught her attention and put it on. It was heavy metal music.

"Good, nice music." She said as she continued to relax, but not before increasing the volume up a bit, allowing the music from the electronic guitars to shoot right up, making the car vibrate a bit.

As Rodrigo continued to drive, Helga couldn't help wonder just what did he plan for tonight. But knowing that she will soon find out, she let that thought slip away from her mind and just relaxed.

Much to Rodrigo's surprise, it didn't take too long to get to downtown, although it did take him a bit for find a parking spot. He had to park a bit farther than he wanted to from the restaurant, but he was nevertheless happy that thus far, things were coming along nicely.

Well, so far so good. He thought to himself.

Upon parking the car, he turned the ignition off, then quickly got out of the car and went around to open the door for Helga and help her get out.

"I'm not handicapped, you know?" She retorted. "I can get out on my own."

"With those heels? I don't think so." He said as he helped her get out.

"I'm a girl, I have walkedwith these heels on ice." She countered.

"Correction, you're a girl that would rather wear sneakers than any heel. So, unlike Lila, Rhonda or even Phoebe, you ain't got much experience with those. I wouldn't want you to twist your ankle before tonight's event even started." He said jokingly.

"My hero." She said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"Actually, that's one of the things that I really like about you, Helga." He said, as he got serious. "you're not as stuck-up as some of the other girls that I've met. You're not into the typical, superficial things that most girls are into. You're down to earth and incredibly smart."

"Well, I would say that 'I aim to please', but I don't. But thanks, I am an incredible person." She said with a smirk.

"That you are."

Arnold should have never broken up with you. He thought.

"Are we also there yet?" She asked. "It's getting a bit cold."

"We are." He replied back. "Sorry Helga, but I wasn't able to find a parking spot closer to the restaurant. I'm actually surprised that this area is already busy. Although I've only come down here a few times, I've never seen this place so busy so early."

Sure enough, they arrived. The restaurant was called Le Pinot Blanche, a very fancy Italo-French restaurant. It was one of those places that you would only come for special occasions, given how expensive it is. Helga had heard of this place, but she never thought she would ever set foot in it.

"Whoa! You reserved two seats in this place?!" She surprisingly exclaimed. "How did you manage to do it?"

"I don't know. I just called them and asked to reserve for two seats tonight. The person I spoke to didn't indicate that she was having any problem in finding two seats." He explained.

Although never really the type of person to care of any fancy place, this one impressed her and...she was a bit excited to go in there. She had heard many beautiful things about it and it's one of the most popular restaurants to go in. It had been rated as one of the best restaurants in the country.

"Well, shall we?" Rodrigo said, as he opened the door for her with a smile.

Helga was so much in awe of having to actually go in there that it didn't even register Rodrigo's gesture of opening the door for her. With a smile on her face, she just went in.

Although it was hard to see from the entrance, the restaurant was beautifully and elegantly decorated. The lights were somewhat deemed so that it presented a romantic environment, but not so much that it was hard to see where you were going. There was red lights shining on the wall, presenting a type of romantic, rosary place.

Rodrigo then approached the waitress who was busy looking at a screen on the standing table.

"Excuse me?" Rodrigo politely said to the waitress. "I've reserved two seats for tonight."

"Certainly, and your name sir?" The waitress asked with a smile.

"Rodrigo Castile."

The waitress than looked at her screen for a few moments. When she saw his name, her smile instantly disappeared and then looked up again.

"Oh sir, I'm sorry, but we've unfortunately given your seats to someone else." She said.

"What? Why?" Rodrigo asked with a serious shock to his face. "But I've made reservations and the person whom I spoke to confirmed that two seats have been saved for us."

"Yes, they were reserved, but unless the guest makes a deposit, we cannot guarantee their seats if the restaurant becomes busy, which it is now." She explained.

"You have got to be joking?!" Rodrigo angrily yelled.

Helga was now annoyed by this turn of events. She just simply sighed and let her usual stoic facial expression come about on her face.

Oh joy. She thought sarcastically. Well, there goes our fancy dinner.

"The person whom I spoke to never mentioned about any deposit!" Rodrigo angrily explained, raising his voice in the process. "Had I known about it, I would have paid it!"

"I'm terribly sorry for this inconvenience. Let me see if there are any seats that might be available." The waitress said.

"Please." Rodrigo begged.

The waitress had little doubt if any seats were going to be available. Most of the guests were already in the restaurants and only just arrived 5-20 minutes prior to Rodrigo and Helga. Yet, she attempted to see if there was any hope for this couple. After almost two minutes of searching,

"I'm really sorry sir, but all the tables are full. The next table won't be available for at least forty-five minutes to an hour."

"Damn it! That's not good enough!" Rodrigo shouted and banged his fist on top of the table, by now really losing his patience.

Rodrigo was now on the verge of completely losing it. He could not believe that such a crucial piece of information was not given to him and now his whole surprise evening for Helga was starting to go out the window!

But before he could say anything else, he suddenly felt a gentle touched on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw that it was Helga.

"Rodrigo," she calmly said to him. "it's ok. Let's just go somewhere else."

Just when it seemed that nothing was going to calm Rodrigo down unless he got them a seat, surprisingly, Helga's touch managed to calm him down and thereby, possibly saving tonight's date. Lessening his scowling face, he just turned around, gently grabbed Helga's hand and left the restaurant.

Without even speaking to Helga, Rodrigo instantly grabbed his phone and began to frantically look for other high class restaurants in the area, but they were either all booked, or had to wait for a really long time. For almost ten minutes, he found nothing. Helga said nothing and just patiently waited for him to either say something or find them another restaurant to go and eat.

Although annoyed that she wouldn't be able to dine at one of Hillwood's fanciest places, she felt bad for the Latino kid at how this little missed detailed nearly caused him to exploded. Given how angry he got at the waitress, Helga realized that whatever he planned for tonight, he wanted it to be perfect for her. That gestured alone was enough for her, despite Rodrigo's foul mood, to smile a bit.

"Found anything?" She calmly asked.

"Ya." He said, but with almost no enthusiasm. "It's not far from here. Let's go before we freeze."

In the end, Rodrigo managed to find another restaurant that was not very busy, but it was not the high class place that he hoped. It was more of a family, Friday night type of restaurant. It was enough to know that both teens were overdressed when they entered it. Rodrigo grudgingly accepted this and went there with Helga to eat.

Luckily for them, they were given a table right away and ordered some food. Although not a high class place, the menu did contain had a few fancy dishes, so both Rodrigo and Helga opted to order them. When their dish arrived, both teens were delighted that the food tasted very good. At least that didn't disappoint them.

Ever since entering the restaurant, Rodrigo remained silent, barely saying a word. By now, Helga was starving so initially she didn't mind the silence, but when it became clear to her that Rodrigo was still feeling down about their little fiasco with Le Pinot Blanche, Helga opted to give him some encouragement.

"Hmm, good food." She mumbled as she continued to chew.

"Ya, I guess." Rodrigo somberly responded back.

"Oh come on, Latino boy, look on the bright side." She said rather cheerfully. "I know your surprise didn't work out, but at least you found us this nice, cozy place. It would have been nice to have dined there, but honestly, I prefer this kind of place. It's more...homey. Besides, I thought I was supposed to be moody one." She continued while she took a bite from her food.

Rodrigo looked up with a bit of amusement on his face and wondered,

Helga being optimistic? Where did that come from?

He then began to smile a bit.

"I guess you're right." He said.

"That's the spirit." She said back.

"Besides, with the way you eat, they would have thrown us out of there." He continued with a chuckle.

"Hey! What's wrong with the way I eat?!" She asked, looking a bit offended.

Rodrigo, while still smiling, just gestured at her side of the table. When she looked down, she noticed that were some stain and small pieces of food around outside of her plate, while on Rodrigo's side, it was clean.

"Ok fine, so I eat like a pig. I was hungry, cut me some slack would ya?" She said while pouting a bit.

Rodrigo then extended his hand and waited for Helga for reciprocate. After a few months, she did.

"I don't care about that." He said. "That's nothing when compared to all of your good qualities. They don't even compare. Your failures alone tower over other people's successes."

Helga, looking at him with wide eyes, again to blush a bit.

"Well umm, I er, don't know about that, Latino boy." She said shyly, trying not to blush.

"I do." He said as he kissed her hand. "Thanks Helga."

"Don't mention it." She said with a smile. "Hey, you gonna eat that?" She asked as she pointed to piece of food that was still on his plate.

"No, you can have it." He said as he gave her his plate.

While Helga continued to pig out, Rodrigo just continued looking at her and smiled, admiring everything about her.

She is something else...He thought almost dreamly.

After having some dessert, Rodrigo then paid the bill and proceeded to walk out of the restaurant. Thankfully the night was not yet a total loss, as he still had time to take her to the botanical gardens.

"Alright, so what's the next phase of your 'glorious' plan?" She asked as they started walking back to the car.

"Still not telling." He said. "Besides, if I tell you, you may be skeptical about it."

"Why don't you try me?" She challenged him.

"I could, but nah." He teased her.

"Oh come on, just spill it out already!" She anxiously said to him. "I promise I'll still act surprised."

"Ok fine. I'm taking you to the botanical gardens." He confessed.

"The botanical gardens..." She said with a very skeptical tone. "You're taking little moi, to the botanical gardens? Do I look like Sheena to you?"

"Just trust me." He said. "I'm not just taking you there to admire a bunch of flowers. It's much more than that. You'll see."

At the botanical gardens...

After finally arriving at their destination, Rodrigo hoped that his next phase of his plan will not be another failure. He parked the car close to the entrance, got out, went inside, paid their tickets and went in.

Upon entering the dome, they were immediately met with a whole array of various kinds of plants and trees. Some were rather small, while other towered almost right to the roof of the dome. Rodrigo had never been to the botanical gardens in Hillwood, so for him this was a bit of a surprise.

"Wow..."He said astonishingly.

"Ya..." She said back genuinely.

"I take it you're a bit surprised?" He asked.

"A little bit." She admitted. "But don't get your hopes up yet."

"I'm not. You haven't yet seen the reason why I brought you here." He said.

The two teens took their time looking and visually scanning almost every plant, tree and flower they came across. Helga had never been to the botanical gardens before and was amazed at how well arranged they were, presenting an artistically beautiful comprehensive view, almost as if each flower, plant and tree had their place within this universe. Yet, there was also plenty of room for much creativity.

Although Rodrigo was growing a bit anxious about taking Helga to see the exhibit, he made no attempt to hurry them up. Rodrigo realized that Helga was taking her time looking around and seemed to be enjoying it, so he let her have her fun.

Finally, they were reaching the exhibit. Rodrigo grew more and more nervous, hoping that this piece would impress, if not even inspire her.

"We're almost there." He said.

"For what?" She asked.

"The reason why I brought you here." He replied as he gestured in front of them.

Curiously, Helga began to walk a bit faster, leaving Rodrigo behind and going to see for herself just what all the fuss was about.

There were large trees on both sides of the pathways that were blocking Helga's view, so she opted to walk faster in order to pass them. The second she did so, she looked at what was in front of her and her jaw dropped.

She didn't say anything, allowing only a gasp to escape her.

Right in front of her was a large mound, but it was completely covered with grass and many, many flowers of all kinds. Red, Green, Yellow, light green, purple, blue. Some were rather small, while others were larger than the average flower. Yet what was most profound when a spectator saw it was the arrangement. Like the rest of the dome, it was arranged in such a way that demonstrated clear intelligibility, but enough space for a blush of creativity to zoom through the entire exhibit. One could instantly tell of a battle going on between structure and creativity, between reason and emotion, between order and chaos.

Helga just stood there, completely in awe at what was in front of her. Rodrigo then slowly walked besides her, looking at the exhibit.

"Well, what do you think?" He asked.

"It's...it's..." She began to say. But then, instead of completing her sentence, she immediately reached for her purse, then took out a notebook and a pen and instantly began writing.

Rodrigo was about to ask just what was she writing, but he immediately stopped himself when he realized that she was inspired by the exhibit.

Eureka! He thought excitedly.

While Helga was busy writing, Rodrigo walked to take a closer look at the exhibit. He went around and saw the vast arrays of flowers covering it. After he made his round, he took a few steps back to get a better view of it, almost reaching the end of the stop walk area on the other side.

Finally, Helga finished and walked towards Rodrigo.

"Inspired?" He asked.

"Definitely." She said.

"What did you write about?" He asked.

"Uh uh. Can't tell." She said. "It's my own personal little poem that I wrote.

"Ah come on." Rodrigo protested. "You can't tell me even a little bit of what you wrote?"

"Nope." She said.

"Is there anything that you can tell me right now? Like how you feel about this?" He asked as he pointed to the exhibit.

"I'll admit, I am impressed." She said with a smile. "Not because of that, but because you took a risk in bringing me here. I don't hate flowers, but I'm not much of a fan of them."

"Oh, I know that. That's why I didn't bring you here just for the flowers. I wanted to show you something more, something...poetic. I've gotten to know you a lot since we met and given what I know about you, bringing you wasn't much of a risk." He explained with his own smirk.

Helga then drew closer to him and then gently grabbed his tie, making him lean in closer to her.

"You sir are one cocky guy." She softly said to him before she then leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. She leaned in a bit too much because it forced to Rodrigo to learn against the fence that prevented people from walking into the gardens. After a few moments of kissing, they released each other.

"Happy Birthday, Helga." He said to her.

"Thank you, Rodrigo. This was nice." She said softly with a smile and proceeded to give him another kiss. This time, she came in a bit more aggressively, forcing Rodrigo to lean even more against the fence, causing it to make a small cracking sound. However, neither teen were bothered by it, as they were too busy into each other. They continued kissing for quite some time. Slowly but surely, they started opening their mouths a bit, allowing their tongues to come out a bit and getting closer and closer to each other...and began their French kiss when suddenly,

*CRACK*

"Whhhaaaaaa!"

The fence finally gave way due to the teens' weight and Rodrigo fell backwards, falling into the garden. Helga almost fell down with him, but she just barely managed to regain her balance and prevented herself from falling down.

"Ow, do'h, damn it, whoa, Ow!" Rodrigo yelled and groaned as he continued rolling down. Unfortunately, where he fell was a bit of a hill and not just a flat surface. As he continued to roll down, he was unable to stop himself until,

"AAAAHHHHHH!" He yelled in pain.

Helga just watched as her boyfriend helplessly rolled down and then cringed when she saw where Rodrigo landed.

"oooohhh. That's gotta hurt." She said.

Forty-five minutes later...

"Ow! Ooohhh! Ow, damn it! Ow!" Rodrigo agonizingly screamed and groaned in pain

"Ugh, hold still would ya? The guy is almost done." Helga said to him as she restrained him by holding his hand.

Rodrigo had landed on top of a cactus garden. He landed on his back, letting the cactus' needle to stab his left backside and buttocks. Luckily for him the cactus' needles were not big at all, so the needles were thin that did not cause any serious internal damage. The staff personnel had to use women leg wax and a special paper, in which he placed it on top of the needles, letting him rip out as many needles out of Rodrigo's body as he could with one go. There were just too many for the guy to take them out one by one.

"Just think of it as if you are getting a royal beauty treatment." Helga joked with a smirk.

"Not, Ow, funny, ow, Helga, ow!" He barked at her. "Ow! Are you almost done?!"

"Yup." Said the personnel as he ripped out the last paper with wax on it. "Now we just have to get you cleaned up and put a few patches around your wounds."

Rodrigo just groaned and slumped his head down.

"Hey, don't look so glum." Helga said to him. "It doesn't look so bad. Although, you may not be able to sit properly for a while."

"How reassuring of you." He said sarcastically.

The personnel then came back and starting sterilizing and cleaning Rodrigo's wounds, then patched them up.

"There you go." He said. "Just be sure you clean them up and you change patches every few days. You should be good within the week."

"Thank you sir." Rodrigo said softly to him.

The personnel then got up and left, leaving the two teens on their own.

"You gonna be ok?" Helga asked.

"Ya, I will...eventually." He said, as he slowly attempted to put this pants and shirt back on.

Feeling like an old man, Rodrigo groaned and grunted as he slowly put his clothes back on. Once Rodrigo was dressed up, the teens decided to call it a night and head home.

"Hey, are you going to be able to drive?" Helga asked as they made their way out of the building.

"Not like we have a choice. You can't drive and I'm not leaving the car here." He said.

"Who said I can't drive? I may not have a license, but I can actually drive pretty well." She countered.

"I'm driving." He said firmly as he opened the door for her.

"Suit yourself." She said as she climbed into the car.

Throughout the ride back home, Rodrigo said nothing. Apart from having to endure the pain on his entire left backside, he felt extremely frustrated at how horribly wrong this evening went. Helga took a glance at him and saw that he looked both furious and sad that his surprise had become a nightmare.

Finally, they safely made it back into their neighbourhood.

"Rodrigo, stop the car." Helga suddenly said to him.

"What, why?" He asked.

"Just stop, please." She said again.

Rodrigo heeded her request and pulled over onto a street, safely away from the main road. He then parked the car and turned the engine off.

Before Helga a chance to say anything, Rodrigo quickly began to talk first.

"Helga, I'm really sorry about tonight." He said. "I wanted this day to be really special for you, but all I've did was just make a huge mess of things..."

"Rodrigo, stop." She firmly cut him off, prompting him to look at her.

"You have nothing to apologize about." She said to him.

"I'll admit, this wasn't the best date that I've ever had. Seeing my boyfriend get pierced by a bunch of cactuses was not thrilling at all. Ok, it was a bit funny. But, despite it all, I had a lot of fun tonight." She said.

"You did?" He surprisingly asked.

"Yes, but not for the reasons that you are thinking of." She said.

"Come again?" He asked.

Helga took a deep breath and then exhaled before she continued.

"Everything that you planned tonight; the fancy dinner, the nice dress up and going to the botanical gardens to see an exhibit, it was all really nice, but that's not what made me happy tonight. What made me happy was just how much thought and effort you put into all of this. You went out of your way to make this a fun and special time for me and to me, that's what counted. Tonight's events were really nice and we could do them again, but I don't care for them. What matters to me is what you were willing to do for me; the effort, the thought, the attempt in making me want to smile, that will always tower over a fancy restaurant or nice clothes any time." She explained.

Rodrigo was speechless and didn't know what to say. Although he never considered Helga to be a materialist, he thought these events would impress her.

"I'll be frank with you, I didn't have much expectations about you remembering, let alone caring about my birthday." She continued with a rather sad look. "Not because I thought you were inconsiderate, or just a dick. It's just my defense mechanism. So many people have disappointed me in the past and I just...didn't want to get hurt again. But you proved to me tonight that you are willing to go the distance, to go through the pain, pun intended." She continued with a smirk. "It shows me that you are committed, committed to us and that's what's important to me. So, thank you Rodrigo."

Rodrigo said nothing and just cracked open a smile. He then gently grabbed her hand and kissed it. Then, he used his other hand to reach into his pocket and pulled out a little present box, his coupe de grâce.

"The surprises are not yet over." He said as he gave her the little present box.

"You are just full of surprises tonight, aren't you?" She said to him, looking genuinely surprised.

She took out the ribbon, opened the box and the pulled a beautiful necklace. But it wasn't just any necklace. Instead of a typical heart, or cross, it had the shape of a paper with a plum on the side. The paper design looked white, while the plum had a mixture of gold and blue colour.

"Rodrigo..." She gasped. "It's beautiful!"

"Open it." He said.

When she did, she saw that it had an inscription inside it and although she was able make out the two words, she couldn't read them because they were not in English.

"Excitare Aude?" She asked.

"Yup. It's Latin. It means 'Dare to inspire'." He said.

Helga looked at him a bit confusingly, not really getting the meaning of the phrase.

"Remember back in November, when we went to the Linkin Park concert? What we talked about Martin Heidegger's idea of Dasein and being in the world, etc?" He asked.

"Ya." She said.

"When we spoke about you either being an imprint of the world, or you making your own imprint, your own sense of being into the world. When I was trying to find something to get you, I went back to that night and that's where I got this idea to make that inscription. I know how much like you like to write poetry and stories, so as a writer, you make your mark upon the world, you mold all of this into your own sense of understanding and you endure that you not only survive, but thrive in it. That's why I put that inscription; I guess it's a challenge for you to not just continue with that path, but to even exceed it. Don't let just your words make this world, but you also. You have a lot to offer, so be an inspiration to the world."

Helga said nothing and just continued to either look at him with wide eyes or glance at the beautiful necklace that he bought for her.

"Rodrigo, I er, um, thank you." She said, still clearly speechless by all of this. "I don't know what to say."

"May I?" He asked, gesturing if he would have the honor in putting the necklace on her.

Helga accepted it and gave him the necklace, then turned around, moved her long blonde hair to one side. Rodrigo then wrapped the necklace around her neck and shut it.

"There, beautiful." He said with a smile.

Helga, still clearly speechless, felt a bit overwhelmed by all of this. Even though they have only been dating a few weeks, this kind and surprising gesture made Helga feel something that she hadn't felt in a long time; a sense of worth and belonging. She felt...dare she thought it...loved. While still taken in by all of this, she then suddenly launched herself onto Rodrigo, hugged him and began to kiss him. Although a bit surprised, Rodrigo returned the gesture.

After a few moments of kissing, they let each other go, but they were still clearly immersed with one another. With big smiles on their faces, Rodrigo then started the engine, only for the motor to stutter, then made a weird a groan until it finally just died. Rodrigo then attempted to turn the engine again, only for it to make a cranking sound, but did not turn on. It then went dead.

"You have got to be f***** kidding me?!" Helga exclaimed.

The day after...

Helga was in her room, lying on her bed with a book on top of her bed and stacks of paper. While fidgeting her new necklace with one hand, she was busy writing a letter with her other hand.

Hiya football head,

How's that small little country still treating ya? I hope you didn't manage to fall too far behind in your studies again. You really need to manage your time properly, Arnoldo.

I just received your first letter since you left us, again, for San Lorenzo. That was fast! Looks like you miss us or are just plain bored there because not only did you write us a letter after only going back a few weeks ago, but you hardly wrote anything interesting, other than you arriving back there safely. Haven't you yet gone to any clubs there and shoving off your moves, just as Rodrigo taught you?

Well, nothing much is going on here. School is back, so as mere students in this little scenario, we are compelled to return to that old deteriorating building that we call 'higher education'. I don't know what else to tell you other than that Rodrigo...

Helga stopped writing and thought if she should even write about yesterday's event to Arnold. She looked at the necklace while she pondered about it. Was it too early? Will he get upset? Should she even say anything at all?

This is a bit awkward to write this, but Rodrigo took me out last night for my birthday. Turns out that he didn't know when my birthday was and neither I or any of our friends told him. Funny, huh? To make up for it, he took me out and it was...really nice. I had a lot of fun. Ok, Rodrigo had an accident when he fell on top of a bunch of cactuses, but he wasn't seriously hurt. He just needs to lay down, but not sit down on his butt for a while. Where did this accident occur, you ask? He took me to the botanical gardens. I honestly didn't even know this city even had one.

Satisfied with that she wrote, she then decided to change topic.

It's been a bit disappointing on having to go back to the way things were before you visited us. I felt like when you were here, even if it was only a week, it felt like...old times. I missed that, really. I know that, given that I am dating Rodrigo now, things will be a little awkward between us for a while. But I have hope that we can one day be friends, as you promised that we would be. I would really like that, Arnold. I would not want to ever cut you out of my life. That would be too much to bear.

Keep up with your studies and come back to visit us soon.

Chao,

Helga G. Pataki.

Once she was done, Helga gently put the letter inside her binder, closed it and then put it inside her closet. After that, she went back to her bed to lie down and listen to some music, all while fidgeting with her new necklace.